Chessable Masters: Wei Yi leads

Carlsen, Ding and Giri two points behind

Wei Yi still holds the record for being the youngest-ever player to cross the 2700 rating barrier. The Chinese star, a fearless tactician, did not rise to the very top of the world ranking as had been anticipated, but he is still a really strong grandmaster. After kicking off the Chessable Masters with three wins and a draw, he is leading the standings table on 10/12 points.

A Black Repertoire against Offbeat Openings

Many club players have their favourite pet opening variations which aren’t necessarily main lines. It’s important to know how to handle these variations as your opponent will likely know his systems well. In this DVD, GM Nicholas Pert provides a detailed Black repertoire against many of these Offbeat Opening choices.

Three big names share second place with eleven rounds to go in the preliminaries, as Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Anish Giri all collected two wins and two draws on Thursday. A football scoring system is in place — 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw — which means no fewer than 33 points are still up for grabs in the online event.

With half the field set to reach the knockout stage, the youngest player amid the strong lineup is currently standing on the top half of the table. Abhimanyu Mishra, who turned 13 three months ago, started with back-to-back losses, but wins over Eric Hansen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov left him in sole seventh place on 6/12 points.

Wei beats Hari

After drawing Praggnanandhaa with black in the first round, Wei scored three wins in a row to grab the lead. First he got the better of Pentala Harikrishna out of a sharp Ragozin Defence.

 

Wei, Yi2727

1–0

Harikrishna, Pentala2705

MCCT Chessable Masters 2022 Online16.05.2022

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Na5 8.c5 b6 9.Bd2 bxc5 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Nc6 12.dxc5 Ne4 13.b4 Nxc3 14.Qxc3 a6 15.Be2 Qf6 16.Qxf6 gxf6 17.Kd2 The queens have been traded. Wei sees no reason to castle, and transfers his king to a more active square instead. Bd7 18.Kc3 Rfb8 19.Rhb1 e5 20.a4 Ne7 21.Kd2 Kf8 22.Ne1 Ra7 23.Nc2 c6

24.g4 White is in the driver's seat, and now begins to push his pawns in order to make the most of his advantage. h6 25.f4 f5 Strong grandmasters often choose activity over a passive defence, especially in rapid chess. Harikrishna knows he needs to act fast, as his position is detereorating. 26.fxe5 fxg4 27.Nd4 h5 27...Nf5 was better, and White cannot grab the g-pawn with 28.Bxg4 due to Nxd4 29.Bxd7 Nf3+ 30.Ke2 Nxe5 31.Bf5 and Black is better. 28.Bd3 Kg7

29.b5 Wei breaks through. axb5 30.axb5 Rxa1 31.Rxa1 cxb5 32.Ra7 Rd8

33.e6 The precise continuation to wreak havoc on opposite camp. 33.c6 at once fails to Nxc6 34.Rxd7 Rxd7 35.Nxc6 Rb7 and in fact Black is better with his rook and passed pawn on the b-file. 33...fxe6 34.c6 The rook is on the same rank as the king! Bc8 35.Rxe7+ Kf6 36.Rh7 e5 37.Nxb5 Kg5 38.c7 1–0

A fortress breaker

Giri drew twice with black and won twice with white on Thursday. In round 4, he defeated Gawain Jones after showing excellent technique in an endgame with bishops of opposite colours. GM Karsten Müller analysed the ending.

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

 

Giri, Anish2761

1–0

Jones, Gawain C B2669

MCCT Chessable Masters 2022 Online16.05.2022[Mueller,Karsten]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 e5 5.Nxe5 0-0 6.Nf3 Re8 7.Bd3 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Bxc3 9.dxc3 Rxe4+ 10.Be3 Nc6 11.0-0 d6 12.Qd5 Qe8 13.h3 Bf5 14.Rfe1 Re6 15.Ng5 Re7 16.b3 a6 17.g4 Bd7 18.Bd2 Ne5 19.f4 Bc6 20.Qd4 h6 21.fxe5 dxe5 22.Qf2 e4 23.Rad1 hxg5 24.Bxg5 e3 25.Rxe3 Rxe3 26.Qxe3 f6 27.Qxe8+ Rxe8 28.Bxf6 Re2 29.Rd8+ Kf7 30.Bd4 Re8 31.Rxe8 Kxe8 32.Be5 Kd7 33.Kf2 Be4 34.a3 c5 35.Ke3 Bc2 36.b4 Bb3 37.Kd3 Kc6

38.Bf6 Giri's king. Opposite colored bishop endings have a large drawish tendency, and fortresses are the main theme to take into account. One weapon aginst them is the creation of a passed pawn: Ba2? Black does not have time for this. 38...b5 defends, e.g. 39.cxb5+ axb5 40.Ke4 cxb4 41.cxb4 Kd6 42.Kf4 Ke6 43.Bd8 Kf7= 39.Be7! Very strong. Now Black is forced into passivity on the queenside and Giri's king will invade sooner or later. Bb1+ 39...b6 40.bxc5 bxc5 41.h4 Bb1+ 42.Ke3+- 40.Ke3 Ba2 40...cxb4 is met by 41.cxb4 Kd7 42.Bg5 Ba2 43.Kd4 Bb3 44.c5 Ke6 45.Ke3 Bd5 46.Kf4 Kf7 47.h4+- 41.Bxc5 Bxc4 42.h4 Kd7 43.h5 gxh5 44.gxh5 Bf7 45.h6 Bg6 46.a4 Ke6 47.Kd4 Bc2 48.a5 Bh7 49.c4 Bb1 50.Bf8 Bh7 Changing the defensive role of the pieces with 50...Kf7 does not defend due to 51.Bg7 Kg6 52.b5 axb5 53.cxb5 Bf5 54.a6 bxa6 55.bxa6 Bc8 56.a7 Bb7 57.Kc5+- 51.Kc5 Kd7 52.Kb6

52...Kc8 52...Be4 is met by 53.b5 However, not 53.h7? due to Bxh7 54.Kxb7 Bd3 55.c5 Bb5 56.c6+ 56.Kb6 Bd3 57.c6+ Kc8= 56...Bxc6+ 57.Kxa6 Kc7 58.b5 Bxb5+ 59.Kxb5 Kb7= 53...Bd3 54.Kxb7 axb5 55.cxb5+- 53.Bd6 Bd3 54.Bg3 Be4 55.b5 axb5 56.cxb5 Kd7 57.a6 bxa6 58.Kxa6 Even 58.bxa6?!+- wins. 58...Ke6 59.b6 Kf7

60.b7 1–0

Crosstable (win = 3 points, draw = 1 point)

All games

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